John F. A. Sawyer is Emeritus Professor of Religious
Studies at Newcastle University and of Biblical and Jewish Studies
at Lancaster. Among his many publications are Sacred Texts
and Sacred Meanings (2011), A Concise Dictionary of the
Bible and its Reception (2009), and The Fifth Gospel.
Isaiah in the History of Christianity (1996). He is co-editor
of the Concise Encyclopedia of Language and Religion (with
J. M. Y. Simpson, 2001), and series editor (with Christopher
Rowland, Judith Kovacs and David Gunn) of the
reception-history-based Blackwell Bible Commentary Series.

“As most of the contributors are not trained primarily as
biblical scholars, the fresh perspective they bring will benefit
specialists and non-specialists alike.” (Religious
Studies Review, 1 September 2014)

“WithThe Blackwell Companion to the New Testament highly
recommended for its biblical scholarship, The Blackwell Companion
to the Bible and Culture seems more reader-friendly but just as
thorough as indicated by its ample citations and impressive
bibliographies at the end of each chapter. Both books also make
excellent reference guides without overlapping. i.e., Instead of
presenting approaches that influence our understanding of a
biblical text,The Blackwell Companion to the Bible and Culture
shows the influence of the Bible on literature, art, music,
psychology, and even history and politics.” (Bible
Reviewer, 7 December 2013)

"Perusing this well-edited, fully indexed Companion is an
exhilarating experience that is likely to lead readers to offer a
sincere, if breathless, thanks to all involved in its creation."
(Choice)

"An intriguing and highly engaging set of articles which
demonstrate clearly how much of the world's culture has been, and
is, permeated with biblical imagery, ideas and influences."
(Journal for the Study of the New Testament)

This volume is a delight, full of interest and surprises. It
contains a wealth of fine scholarship made readable and the book is
highly recommended … Immensely varied, accessible, and
fascinating." (Journal of Contemporary Religion)

"A sweeping and magnanimous overview … admirably achieves
its goal with wit, aplomb, and a disciplinary breadth that is all
too rare in biblical studies today … A welcome addition to
the growing corpus of literature on the important relationship(s)
between the Bible and culture." (Review of Biblical
Literature)

"A unique manual that demonstrates that biblical studies are no
longer done exclusively in departments of theology."
(International Review of Biblical Studies)

“Concentrating vast bodies of knowledge in richly and vividly
informative articles, this volume is a major contribution to
religion and culture studies. It includes the three religions that
use the Bible – Judaism, Islam, and Christianity – on
topics as varied as film, Australasia, postmodernism, and the body.
All scholars and students of religion and culture can learn from
both the content and the method of this highly readable
book.”
— Margaret R. Miles, The Graduate Theological Union

“It is clear that the Bible in Western culture is
recognized not only as ‘a source of revelation’ but as
a generative force in the propulsion of culture. Professor Sawyer
knows as much as anyone about ‘Reader Response’ and the
ways in which the Bible has been read over time – misread or
strongly read – to impact and shape culture. In this volume
he has gathered a first-rate group of scholarly interpreters who
lead us into heretofore unexplored areas along the interface of
culture and Bible. This book is a venturesome and welcome pioneer
not only in new learnings, but also in new methods that will
continue to evoke new interpretations. The volume signals a fresh
direction in Scripture study.”
— Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological
Seminary

“Nowhere has the mutual interdependence between the Bible
and culture been as thoroughly analyzed as in the thirty
contributions to this Companion. The rich variety of contents and
perspectives of these imaginatively selected, densely packed
chapters is overwhelming. A truly interdisciplinary work created by
a group of internationally known scholars, this collection shows
how the various aesthetic, political and religious aspects of
culture inform and are still informed by biblical texts. They
reveal how much our cultural imagination and practices are imbued
with biblical images, themes and residues, but also how much
present ways of thinking have moved far away from the Bible. The
contributors discuss rabbinic, patristic, medieval, modern and
postmodern approaches to the Bible, its global appropriations as
also its reception and usage in Judaism, Islam and in contemporary
ecological debates. These challenging essays invite much reflection
and debate, making this Companion attractive to a wide range of
readers.”
— Ursula King, University of Bristol and University of
London

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